The Girl Effect

Being a parent of two little girls means not just doing what I can to prepare them for the world, but also looking at the world and asking ‘ is the world right for them? And, if not, what can I do to make it better?

And yet, all things considered, my girls are very lucky to have been born where they were.

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Girls living in poverty around the world face far, far greater challenges. And yet they can make a huge difference to their families and communities. For example, in studies, it has been seen in developing countries that women who are educated earn considerably more and reinvest 90% of what they earn back into their own families. Fantastic, right?

Well it would be. But around one quarter of girls are not in school at all. Out of the 170 million young people not in school worldwide, 70% are girls. And the challenges aren’t just in education. 14 million girls aged 15-19 give birth in developing countries each year, with almost 40% married before they are 18 and many before they are even 15. Pregnancy-related complications are a leading cause of death for girls in developing countries.

And 75% of young people aged 15-24 with HIV in Africa are female.

Doesn’t quite seem right, does it? Well, let’s do something about it. Here’s how you can help -

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GIVE

Here at this link, you can give money to help make things better for girls and balance the equation a little (apparently right now, girls get less than 2 cents out of every aid dollar). You can even donate to specific programmes around the world.

TALK ABOUT IT

Tell people, write about it, blog about it and send people to the Girl Effect to learn more at this link. When you’ve posted about it, link to this page here to let more people see your post and read what others are saying about it too.

Let’s help make this world better not just for our girls (and boys!), but every girl.